Mariusz Wilczyński - A Lesson of Cinema

117’

subtitles: Polish and English

Crying Wolf. Retrospective: Mariusz Wilczyński

A Completely Different Story, A Fair of Orchids, A Highly Peculiar Evening, Allegro ma non troppo, Baby Snakes (episode), Bookclips, Chop, Chop, Chop, Chopin…, Coffee and Cigarettes III (episode Somewhere in California), Death to Five, For My Mother and Me, From the Green Hill, Howlin’ Wolf – I’ll Be Back Someday & Love Me Darlin’, I Hate, In the Stillness of the Night, Justice, Kill It And Leave the Town (trailer), Kizi Mizi, La Dolce Vita (episode), Lullabies, Miles Davis – Time After Time, Miles Davis – Warsaw Concert 1983, Night on Earth (episode), O sole mio, Protozoa, Shivering Trunks, Sonny Boy Williamson II – Nine Below Zero, Summertime, Superstring, Tadeusz Nalepa – Prayer, Talk to Me, Little Bear, Tango, The Best of TVP Kultura, The Canal, The Deadly Chase, The Hidden, The Perpetuum Mobile, The Rabbit’s Case, The Rest of the World, Times Have Passed, Unfortunately, Werewolves, Wild Strawberries (episode), Wolf on the Horizon

Section index

Mariusz Wilczyński

Screenwriter, animated film and TV shorts designer and director. A painter, cartoonist, set designer, actor, and teacher. Wilczyński takes on various artistic tasks successfully combining several artistic disciplines (musical-art-cinematic performances). He was born on 29 April 1960 in Łódź. A graduate from the Faculty of Painting and Graphic Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź (1986), where he studied at the painting atelier of Prof. Stanisław Fijałkowski and wood engraving atelier of Andrzej Marian Bartczak. Wilczyński's work has been exhibited in Poland (16 individual exhibitions) as well as in Amsterdam, Bruges, Budapest, Chicago, London, Madrid, Oslo, Sofia, Wakayama and Yokohama. He produces original animated films and so-called applied animation productions.

Writer: 16 animated lullabies sang by folk singers and other artists including Kora, Justyna Steczkowska, Stanisław Sojka, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz; six animated shorts promoting Poland and Polish culture in the European Union (1998); approximately 200 bookclips (księgoklipy), that is animated performative shorts translating the most interesting recently published books into moving images, screened weekly on TVP 1 in the programme Cultural Messenger / Goniec Kulturalny (1995–1999); 12 animated films for the theatrical performance Kombinat – a good-bye concert for the band Republika during the 23^rd Stage Song Revue in Wrocław (2000); video clips for Kayah, Tomasz Stańko, Stanisław Sojka, Republika, Kinior, bands such as Breakout or Tie Break (1994–2001); Małe Wilki (Little Wolves), that is animated shorts translating the most interesting recently published books into visual language, shown on TVP 2 during Beata Tyszkiewicz’s programme Lubię czytać / I Like Reading (2003–2005); art direction, set and logo design for the Marek Grechuta Enchanted Song Festival (since 2005); art director of TVP Kultura channel (since 2005). Wilczyński and Agnieszka Szydłowska hosted the TVP 1 cultural programme Po godzinach / After Hours between 2005– 2006.

He also dabbles in musical-artistic-cinematic performances, originally with the group Light Open Society (1988–1998) and later on his own, by drawing and animating to improvised music by e.g. Tomasz Stańko, Michał Urbaniak, Leszek Możdżer, Kinior, bands such as Małe Instrumenty, Pink Freud, Pogodno, Kim Nowak (the so-called Wilkanoce).

Retrospectives: Anthology Film Archives in New York (2007), Pretoria Art Museum (2007), Neue Babylon in Berlin (2007), Museum of Modern Art in New York (2007), and National Museum in Brazil (2009).

Lecturer: Classical animation at Kunstuniversität in Linz (2003–2005) and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź (2003–2007). Since 2007, he has been a lecturer at the Łódź Film School (National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź), where he defended his Ph.D. dissertation in 2009.

Awards: Złoty Glan (Golden Boot) for the most original art direction at TVP Kultura at the 7^th Festival of Designers ‘Powiększenie’ in Łódź (2005), the Hot Bird TV Award for TVP Kultura as the best European cultural channel (the justification highlighting the quality of graphic design) at the 9^th Hot Bird TV Awards in Venice (2006) and many other festival awards, e.g. in Arnheim, Chicago (Golden Hugo for the film Unfortunately in 2005), Yokohama, New York, Paris, Gdańsk and Krakow.

(Jerzy Armata)

FILMOGRAPHY: Original animated films (script, direction, animation):

2007 - Kill It and Leave Town (Zabij to i wyjedz z tego miasta) (work-in-progress)

2007 - Kizi Mizi (to be premiered at MoMA, New York City, May 7, 2007)

2004 - Unfortunately (Niestety)

2003 - Fragments from the Everyday. Julia Hartwig (Ulamki codziennosci. Julia Hartwig)

2002 - Death to Five (Smierc na piec)

2000 - For My Mother and Me (Mojej Mamie i sobie)

2000 - In the Still of the Night (Wsrod nocnej ciszy)

1999 - Chop, Chop, Chopin... (Szop, Szop, Szop, Szope…)

1999 - I Hate (Nienawidze)

1999 - From the Green Hill

1998 - Times Have Passed (Czasy przeszły)

1998 - Allegro ma non troppo

1996 - Justice (Sprawiedliwosc)

SELECTED AWARDS:

2006 - Hot Bird TV Awards, Venice, Italy (Awards for the best thematic channels; Satellite Oscar); Best European Culture Channel: TVP Kultura

2006 - New York Polish Film Festival, Honorable Mention

2005 - Chicago International Film Festival; Golden Hugo for Best Animation: Unfortunately

2001 - European Festival of Independent Films, Paris; Best Animation: In the Still of the Night

2001 - Festival of Polish Videoclips "Yach Film", Gdansk; "Wooden Yach" organizers' special award: In the Still of the Night

2000 - Festival of Polish Videoclips "Yach Film", Gdansk; Best Animation: From the Green Hill

1999 - Festival of Polish Videoclips "Yach Film", Gdansk; Best Plastic Arrangement: I Hate

1998 - Festival of Polish Videoclips "Yach Film", Gdansk; Best Animation: Allegro Ma Non Troppo

1996 - Festival of Polish Videoclips "Yach Film", Gdansk; Best Animation: Justice

NON-FILM AWARDS:

2006 - Letter of Congratulation from the President of Poland

1992 - Grand Prix (with the Light Open Society group) for the Best Performance with Animation at the Ave Multimedial Festival in Arnhem, Holland

1990 - Honorable Mention at the 11th International Graphics Competition "Exhibition of Print", Yokohama, Japan

1989 - Honorable Mention at the 10th International Graphics Competition "Exhibition of Print", Yokohama, Japan

1990 - A grant from the Polish Ministry of Culture and Arts

1988 - A grant from the Polish Ministry of Culture and Arts

1987 - A grant from the Polish Ministry of Culture and Arts

RECENT PARTICIPATION IN MAJOR FILM FESTIVALS:

2006 - 15th International Film and Music Festival Mediawave, Györ, Hungary

2nd annual New York Polish Film Festival, USA

Melbourne International Animation Festival, Australia

2005 - 56th International Short Film Festival Montecatini Terme, Italy

41st Chicago International Film Festival, USA

45th Krakow Film Festival, Poland

2004 - 17th TTV Festival - Performing Arts on Screen, Bologna, Italy

SELECTED INDIVIDUAL SCREENINGS OF ORIGINAL ANIMATED FILMS

2007 - Museum of Cinematography, Lodz, Poland

2006 - Durchfenster Kino, Berlin, Germany

Ipanema, Sala de Cultura Laura Alvim, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Lorch Hall, Ann Arbor, Detroit, MI, USA

Skalvijos Kino Teatre, Vilnius, Lithuania

Dominicans' Convent, Sandomierz, Poland, with live music by Tomasz Stanko, Michal Urbaniak, and Kinior&Makaruk

Mercury Cinema, Adelaide, Australia

Valhalla Cinema, Sydney, Australia

Centre for Contemporary Art "Zamek Ujazdowski", Warsaw, Poland

Museum of Cinematography, Lodz, Poland, with live music by Wlodek Kiniorski

Toronto Animated Image Society, School of Image Arts, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

Charlie Cinema, Lodz, Poland

2004 - Midem Cannes, France

Cinema Lumiere, Milan, Italy

2003 - 9th Festival of Artistic Films, Film Summer, Kazimierz, Poland, a retrospective screening

2001 - Days of Open Workshops, Paris, France

2000 - Centre for Contemporary Art "Zamek Ujazdowski", Warsaw, Poland, with live music by guest star: Tomasz Stanko